


Looking Up

by Whoevenknows



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 06:09:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8960692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whoevenknows/pseuds/Whoevenknows
Summary: Yuri Plisetsky has been captivated by Yuri Katsuki's skating since the first time he saw him. Follows Yuri's childhood watching his favorite Japanese skater.





	

He’s ten when he first sees Katsuki skate. He’d finally gotten his hands on a pair of tickets to Grand Prix Series event nearby. He was excited to see a real professional event for the first time in his life, to look down at the rink and know that one day, he’d be standing on it himself.

The competition started off with a nineteen year old Japanese man. Yuri hadn’t cared for him watching the warm up, laughing when he saw the skater fall and get back up. And the poor sap had been so unlucky as to draw the first slot of the event, too. 

He’d never heard his name before either. But when he was announced as Yuri Katsuki, Yuri tuned in instantly. And when his short program started, he was captured by the performance. 

Katsuki didn’t seem to be good at the technical aspect of the program, stumbling and hesitating on his jumps, but Yuri couldn’t keep his eyes off the Japanese skater. He seemed to flow with the music, as if his body was the one producing the music, and not just skating to it. 

Before Yuri’s ready, the program is over, and Katsuki is sitting in the kiss and cry with his coach, hanging his head over a less-than-favorable score. Yuri sees the coach clap his student on the back, obviously trying to be encouraging, but the skater sulks out of the arena. 

After that, Yuri can barely pay attention to any of the other skaters. He knows some of them, some of them having competed with his national hero, Viktor Nikiforov and placed next to him at other events over the years. He even had some over their posters and pictures scattered in his room. 

The next day, it’s the same. Katsuki is in fifth after the short program, giving Yuri hope for his new idol. Katsuki takes the ice after the sixth place guy flails through his program and leaves dejected. 

The music for the free skate is slower than his short program. But Katsuki fits to it so well. This time he only stumbles on one jump, recovering easily, moving into the next jump smoothly. And then he goes into a step sequence that almost stops Yuri’s heart. It’s so polished and finely tuned to the music, Yuri grips his shirt over his heart, amazed that someone can actually move like that. 

In the end, Katsuki gets the bronze medal. Yuri is pretty sure he’s the loudest in the stands when Katsuki smiles for the camera. He wishes he had some flowers or something to throw to the skater. 

As Yuri and his grandfather are walking out of the stadium, Yuri going on and on about how beautiful Katsuki’s skating had been, he sees him across the hall. 

He’s being interviewed by a Japanese reporter, and he can’t understand anything that’s being said, but he’s sure his new favorite skater is saying how next time he’ll win gold. Yuri almost runs over to see if he can get the man’s autograph, but he has nothing to sign, and he doesn’t know English or Japanese at all. So he just watches from afar, ignoring his grandfather insisting it was time to get home. 

\---

He’s eleven and he’s under his covers, watching a livestream of the Japanese Nationals. Katsuki is by far the best skater in the competition. This time, Katsuki nails all of his jumps and his step sequence is heart stopping once again, and all of it earns the skater a personal best in his short program. 

In the year since the event, Yuri has dug up everything he could on the Japanese skater. He apparently came from a small town in Japan that was known for hot springs. His family even owned one of the places there. Yuri wanted to visit Japan someday and visit the Katsuki family spring. 

He’d gone to the library to print off dozens of pictures of the skater, from Japan-only magazines and interviews. He’d torn out the photos of the skaters from international magazines and posted them up all over his room. He’d even taken up trying to learn Japanese so he could understand the interviews without having to put them through a translator. He’s beginning to pick up simple words, and is excited when he hears the announcer call Katsuki “Japan’s ace”. 

The next day, he hides again, watching the free program. Katsuki again gives a flawless performance, smiling to the crowd and bowing. He wins gold, the Japanese crowd raining praise on his from the stands. Yuri sticks around to watch his post competition interview, not understanding most of it, but knowing that this man was insisting he wasn’t as good as he was. 

The next day at practice, Yuri can’t stop talking about how beautiful Katsuki was in his National programs, trying to imitate the complicated step sequences he’d seen, but only managing to tangle his own legs up and crash on the ice. 

\---

He’s fourteen and he’s qualified for his first Junior Grand Prix event. And his first event is at the same place Katsuki is assigned to. 

His age is beginning to catch up with him and he insists he doesn’t care that Katsuki is there when his rinkmates rib him about finally meeting his idol. He tried to convince himself that he didn’t care. He’d taken down most of his posters and pictures, save for two. One was a full size picture of Katsuki, advertising one of his exhibitions in Japan, the other was a picture Yuri had screenshot from his latest win at the Japanese Nationals with him smiling and holding the gold medal up for the camera. 

The rest, he had tucked away in an old shoe box under his bed. He only took it out after a particularly rough day on the ice, where he couldn’t get the steps right, or he argued with his coaches and rinkmates. He found comfort and inspiration in the old photos.

Yuri walked down the hall with his head held high. He knew he was better than all other boys competing in his division today. His presentation scores were lagging, but his technical scores more than made up for it, even if his new coach Yakov yelled at him for doing quads. 

The kids at his old rink were all jealous that he got to study under the same man who coached Viktor Nikiforov, but Yuri didn’t care. Yeah, the man was good, and his performances were always flawless, but they never seemed to capture Yuri the way Katsuki did. Still, he’d watched Viktor practice, in awe of the ease he had on the ice. It was almost like the man was born with blades on his feet, that he was made to only move on the ice. 

He still had his free program tomorrow, but he was confident he’d still be in first place at the end of the day. For now, however, he was being forced to get back to the hotel where he’d be forced to rest, and not watch the older competitors. Yuri had protested, but Yakov had all but banned him from staying. 

Grumbling to himself, he kicked at the carpet. His shoulder hit something, causing him to stumble. The man he’d hit quickly caught his elbow, apologizing profusely.  
It was then that Yuri noticed who exactly was holding his elbow and stuttering out needless apologies. 

It was Yuri Katsuki. Yuri blinked once, twice, his brain frozen. What did he say? What did he do? Tell him not to worry about it? Yeah, he’d do that.

“Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” He shouted, pulling his elbow away and all but running down the hall and around the corner. 

Oh no. Why had he said that? He leaned against the wall, banging his head against it. Stupid Yuri, stupid. He peeked back around the corner. Maybe he could still salvage this? But Katsuki was gone. Yuri sighed, shaking his head, heading to the front where he knew Yakov was impatiently waiting.

Back in his room, he laid on his bed, poking angrily at his phone, scrolling through news of the competition. Katsuki had yet to go on, having drawn a better number this time. He desperately wanted to sneak out and go back to the rink to watch, but he was sure he’d get lost. 

Yuri managed to shake off his humiliation to sleep. And in the morning, he arrived at the rink, ready to take home his first Grand Prix series gold medal. He’d woke up to news that Katsuki was currently in second place in his own part of the competition, having picked up his missed technical points with another moving presentation. 

Yuri went for gold, knowing that Katsuki would get his too. He stood on top of the podium, smiling awkward for the cameras. This was the awkward part of being an international skater. The cameras, and the interviews, and how you were supposed to act in front of others. The skaters in the senior division all seemed to be so at ease with flashing and constant questions, but Yuri could never seem to get the hang of a fake smile. So instead he frowned and insisted there was no way he was losing and that everyone who thought so was stupid. But he tried for podium pictures. 

Yakov let him stay for the senior competitors, and Katsuki put on a great free skate performance, only missing one jump. It, combined with his short program score, got him to the top of the podium. Yuri tried not to look too happy about seeing him up there. 

This was the year. Katsuki was finally going to make it to the finals. And he was going to be there too.

It wasn’t. 

Yuri had made it, and got his silver medal. But Katsuki had fallen short of the final by just a few points. Yuri tried to convince himself he wasn’t disappointed. 

Viktor won, again, and Yuri watched him seem to glow under the lights of the cameras. It was disgusting. In his second competition, he’d made Viktor promise to choreograph him a program in exchange for winning without quads. As much as Viktor annoyed him, Yuri knew he was good, and his programs were always very well put together and he needed that if he was going to smash his senior debut in two years. 

Back home in Russia, back to the training, trying to learn to create music like Katsuki did, or captivate and wow the audience like Viktor did. He’d decided he wanted to be the one to dethrone Viktor and take gold in his place. 

\---

He’s fifteen and this was the year. 

He’d watched Katsuki take bronze and silver in both his competitions, landing him in the final. He himself had won gold in both of his events, putting him at the top of the junior finalists. And he was determined to win the final too. 

He went in confident of himself, excited, ready. Everyone praised him for how well he did, proclaiming how excited they were for his senior debut next year. And Yuri was determined he’d win his debut too. He’d stomped down his competition in the juniors, and now it was time to take the seniors as well. 

As he’s walking away from the rink after the medal ceremony, he sees a figure with his face pressed against the wall, muttering to himself in a foreign language. 

Yuri brightens when he sees its him. It’s Yuri Katsuki, and Yuri is a Grand Prix gold medalist, and he wants to talk to him, but suddenly, Katsuki looks up, sees Yuri, yelps, and then shuffles away, still muttering in Japanese. His eyes looked dark, like he hadn’t slept, and his hair wasn’t as well groomed as usual. 

Yuri watches him on the ice, watches him fall and miss his steps, and then sulk off ice, while his coach tries to cheer him up. He gets a low score, and Yuri notices him hang his head and brush a few tears away, before disappearing back into the waiting rooms. 

Yuri tries not to be disappointed. Katsuki’s first time in the finals didn’t look so good. Yuri’s heart fell even more when Katsuki choked again in the free program, securing himself solidly in last place. 

He’s fifteen and he’s scared his favorite skater has already passed his peek and won’t recover from this.

So he does the only thing he knows how to.

He yells at him.

He stalks into the bathroom after him, hearing him muttering to his phone, apologizing, and then hearing him sob. He kicks the door, and when Katsuki steps out, Yuri yells at him. Calling him names, telling him to retire. 

Seeing the scared look on his face, Yuri almost regrets it. He’s talking to his idol for the first time ever, and all he’s doing is insulting him. 

Yuri tried to rationalize that if he’d been insulted like that, he’d just work harder to prove that person wrong. Katsuki would hate him, would want him to be wrong, he’d come back next year and fight it out with him. 

In the end, Katsuki doesn’t get a single word in, and Yuri runs back out the door, pushing others out of his way as he heads back to the hotel with Yakov. The banquet was later, and he had to get ready.

\---

He’s fifteen and Yuri Katsuki is hammered and slurring his words and just challenged him to a dance battle. 

Yuri is never one to turn down any competition. He’s confident in his dancing abilities, and there’s no way Katsuki can dance well when he can barely stand.

Except he can. He can dance really well when he’s drunk. Yuri is amazed when Katsuki stands on his hands, beginning to twirl and swing his body around in breakdancing movements. He loses the battle, but he’s so in awe he can’t seem to care. Sure he’s a little humiliated, but he can get past that.

But then he can see Yuri stripping his clothes off and challenging Christophe to another dance off. They climb a pole and hang and twist from it. Yuri stands on Christophe’s thighs at one point, pouring out another bottle of champagne. 

Yuri is almost mad. How could Katsuki lose so terribly when he can breakdance, pole dance, and is known for his history in ballet? 

Yuri glances back up from his rage to see Katsuki dipping Viktor down with a huge grin on his face, matching Viktor’s. The two are now doing a pair’s dance, Katsuki clearly leading. Viktor looks like he’s having the time of his life dancing with the man he’d just annihilated in competition. 

Yuri watches in awe as Katsuki practically begs Viktor to be his coach. Viktor’s eyes shine in a way Yuri has never seen. Yuri feels a touch of jealousy. He already had Viktor promise to choreograph for him, and its not like coaching Yuri would stop him from doing that. But the idea that Viktor, a man he was constantly frustrated with, would spend days and months working with Katsuki, made him jealous.

\---

He’s sixteen and he’s just lost again to Katsuki. The Hot Springs on Ice competition had gone well. He’d had the audience in his hand, he’d landed everything, he’d done everything right. 

But he still didn’t capture the music the same way Katsuki did. 

He’s sitting on a plane, flying back to Russia, where he’ll force Yakov to make him a better skater than Katsuki. Viktor would coach Katsuki, would make him reach the final again, and there, Yuri would crush him and finally, maybe, have a real conversation with him. He could see it now. He’d take first, and Katsuki would be second, and they’d be close friends from then on. Viktor would come back to Russia, and Katsuki would take charge of the Japanese skating scene like he had before. 

Yuri knew that Katsuki needed Viktor’s help to recover from his terrible performances last year. Yuri desperately wanted to prove he could move like Katsuki, could become the music just like him. 

He worked with Lilia, pushing himself harder than he ever had before. 

\---

He’s sixteen, and Katsuki is in Russia again, destroying his short program. Yuri is in awe as he lands everything and the crowd cheers as loud as it can for him. Yuri wants to too, but he has to stay focused. Except his shaking he’s so nervous. He’s next and he can barely hear what Yakov and Lilia are saying to him.

But then he looks up and sees Katsuki waving to him, wishing him luck, and then Viktor doing the same, and his heart swells, but he growls and pushes away from the wall, ready to begin, his nerves suddenly gone.

In the end, Katsuki worries too much about Viktor and botches his free skate, but hangs on enough to be in the final again. Yuri takes his place with silver and hates JJ just a little more than he did before. His grandfather gives him another bag of pork piroshki, and instead of eating them himself, he finds Katsuki and gives them to him. He says it’s for his birthday, but Yuri knows he gives them to Katsuki cuz he’s happy his favorite skater is in the final again. And this time he’ll do better.

\---

He’s sixteen and he’s exhausted, but he has to. He has to get gold in this competition. If he gets gold, Katsuki can’t retire. He tosses everything he has at the ice, and it rewards him.

Katsuki gets second, and Yuri knows in his heart that he’s not going anywhere just yet. Katsuki beat Viktor’s world record, and Yuri’s heart soars when he knows both he and his idol beat out Viktor’s old records. They’re the same now. 

Yuri can’t keep the grin off his face at the party. Katsuki doesn’t get drunk, Katsuki still dances beautifully, and Viktor announces he’s making a comeback. Katsuki announces he’s going with him to Russia to train. 

He’s sixteen and he swears to himself once Katsuki is at his home rink, he’ll finally make Katsuki teach him how to move like him on the ice.

**Author's Note:**

> Yurio is such a teenager, winning just so Yuri can't retire. JFC


End file.
